Part 3 (1/2)

_Sing Nouna

_Dat_ Auganu Boganuunnar

_Plur Nournar

_Dat_ Augununanna

In the Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish this peculiarity in the position of the definite article is preserved Its origin, however, is concealed; and an accidental identity with the indefinite article has led to false notions respecting its nature In the languages in point the i is changed into e, so that what in Icelandic is it and in, is in Danish et and en _En_, however, as a separate word, is the numeral _one_, and also the indefinite article _a_; whilst in the neuter gender it is _et_--en sol, _a sun_; et bord, _a table_: solon, _the sun_; bordet, _the table_ Froined that the definite is merely the indefinite article transposed This it is not

To apply an expression of Mr Cobbet's, _en_ = _a_, and -en = _the_, are _the same combination of letters, but not the same word_

-- 41 Another characteristic of the Scandinavian language is the possession of a _passive_ for in -st:--_ek_, _u_, _hann brennist_ = _I am_, _thou art_, _he is burnt_; _ver brennumst_ = _we are burnt_; _er brennizt_ = _ye are burnt_; _eir brennast_ = _they are burnt_ Past tense, _ek_, _u_, _hann brendist_; _ver brendumst_, _er brenduzt_, _eir brendust_ Imperat: _brenstu_ = _be thou burnt_

Infinit: _brennast_ = _to be burnt_

In the modern Danish and Swedish, the passive is still preserved, but without the final t In the _older_ stages of Icelandic, on the other hand, the terrew out of the reflective pronoun _sik_ With these phenoive us the evolution and develop series of changes:--1 the reflective pronoun coalesces with the verb, whilst the sense changes from that of a reflective to that of a es to t, whilst the middle sense passes into a passive one; 3 t is dropped from the end of the word, and the expression that was once reflective then becomes strictly passive

Now the Saxons have no passive voice at all That they should have one _originating_ like that of the Scandinavians was impossible, inasmuch as they had no reflective pronoun, and, consequently, nothing to evolve it from

CHAPTER V

analYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE--GERMANIC ELEMENTS--THE ANGLES

-- 42 The language of England has been formed out of three eleinal British population, and derived frolo-Saxon, Germanic, or ilo-Saxon conquest

-- 43 Each of these requires a special analysis, but that of the second will be taken first, and form the contents of the present chapter

All that we have at present learned concerning the Gerraphical area which they originally occupied How far, however, it was sile-handed, or how far the particular Saxon Germans were portions of a coation Were the Saxons one division of the Gerles were another? or were the Angles a section of the Saxons, so that the latter was a generic terh the Saxon invasion reatest influence, and drawn the most attention, why rations, the effects and record of which have, in the lapse of time, become fused with those of the les; ere they? and as their relation to the Saxons?_--The first answer to this question ereat fact in the way of internal evidence, viz, that they were the people frole land_, ie, _land of the Angles_ Our language too is _English_, ie, _Angle_ Whatever, then, theysection of the invaders here Why then has their position in our inquiries been hitherto so subordinate to that of the Saxons? It is because their importance and preponderance are not so manifest in Germany as we infer them to have been in Britain Nay st the nations of Gernificant and uncertain; indeed, it will be seen from the sequel, that _in and of the them only in their _relations_, ie, to ourselves and to the Saxons

-- 45 Although they are the section of the iland, and, as such, the preponderating elelish_, they were not so in the eyes of the original British; who neither knew at the time of the Conquest, nor kno, of any other name for their German enemies but _Saxon_ And _Saxon_ is the nalish are known to the Welsh, Armorican, and Gaelic Celts

Welsh _Saxon_

Armorican _Soson_

Gaelic _Sassenach_

-- 46 Although they are the section of the iland_, &c, they were quite as little Angles as Saxons in the eyes of foreign cotemporary writers; since the expression _Saxoniae transland